19 May – 20 August 2017

The Object Lessons exhibition at the Museum showcased a collection of Victorian-era scientific models and artifacts from the George Loudon collection, displayed alongside items from the museum's own collection. The exhibition, which ran from May to August 2017, explored the intersection of art and science through objects used for teaching in the 19th century, such as detailed glass models of marine life, anatomical models, and scientific illustrations.

The beautiful objects blurred the boundaries between art and science and brought together the world’s leading scientists and most accomplished craftsmen.

Pieces were presented across several broad themes. In particular, Unique Craftsmanship paid close attention to the incredible detail and fidelity encapsulated in the Blaschka glass models, masterfully constructed by German glassworkers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. These stunning recreations of soft-bodied organisms, most notably the Portuguese man o’ war, are beguilingly life-like and allowed Victorian scientists to faithfully capture natural wonders when underwater photography was still a fantasy. In a way, these models retain this significance, allowing you to view these fascinating creatures up close and in three dimensions.

Recording the Extraordinary focused on how scientists sought to represent unusual or transient phenomena, the momentarily spectacular, which before bordered on fable and fantasy. How does one capture the wind? Or represent the Aurora Borealis? The answers are undeniably intriguing to view. Much of the collection relates to the ways scientists sought to portray what were, to most people, abstract concepts that went beyond what we ordinarily observe. Framing Time explored the immensity of geological time and the nature of life millions of years ago, whilst Revealing the Microscopic exhibited the minute detail of organisms down to the very smallest. But there was also an emphasis on how important pieces and models were in 19th Century teaching, exemplified in Understanding the Body (starring the fascinating papier-mâché skinless wild turkey), Looking Inside, and of course the Teaching Museum, the ‘Lanterium’ of Victorian life sciences lecture slides of which are extremely easy to get lost in.